Youzhny forced out

Youzhny: Back injury

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Top seed Mikhail Youzhny retired from his second-round match against Denis Istomin at the St Petersburg Open on Thursday after suffering a back injury.

Youzhny, who won his first Kremlin Cup title at the weekend, took a medical timeout after losing the first set but was forced to quit three games later whilst 6-2 2-1 down.

"I just felt a sharp pain in my back midway through the first set," the Russian world number 25 said.

"I had to battle through the pain for the rest of the first set. The medical break didn't help either and soon I knew that I couldn't go any longer and had to stop.

"I just hope it's not too serious," added Youzhny, who has been suffering from back pains for much of the season.

Meanwhile, fifth seed Igor Andreev made an early exit with a knee injury whilst 6-3 0-1 down in his second-round encounter against fellow Russian Marat Safin.

"It's an old injury, I've had it on and off for the last few months," 38th-ranked Andreev said.

"I started feeling some pain in my left knee even before the match but I thought I would still be able to play. In the end, I just couldn't do it any more."

Safin said he was unaware his opponent was injured.

"I was just concentrating on my game and didn't know he was feeling pain in his knee," said the former world number one, who is playing in his penultimate tournament before retiring.

"In any case, I'm just happy I got through to the next round," added Safin, who will now play 101st-ranked Istomin of Uzbekistan in the last eight.